A Brief History of Pancakes

Since the early years of recorded human history, mankind has been grinding grains into flour and using it to cook up these tasty cakes. In fact, there is archaeological evidence to suggest that the pancake was one of the first prepared breakfast foods.

While the earliest references to pancakes came from the 5th century B.C. Greek poets, they have really only been known as ‘pancakes’ since the 15th century.

As for National Pancake Day itself, the origins are a bit murky but apparently it started as early as the year 2000 (at least here in the US).

However, it is important to note that pancake parties are found outside of the U.S. too. Take the example of Shrove Tuesday, a 600-year-old pancake celebration enjoyed by people in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. The event takes place in February and sometimes features a pancake race.

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Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD

Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD is Founding Director of UC Davis Integrative Medicine and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences at the School of Medicine at the University of California Davis. Blending a life-long passion for food and nutrition with over 20 years of scientific experience in genetic research, Dr. Oliveira is devoted to educating people about how food and lifestyle choices can affect genetic expression–i.e. how genes are turned on and off and either cause disease or promote health. She is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has lived in the US since 2003.